Improved railwayi cattle-gate



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Letters Patent No. 96,193, dated October 26, 1869.

IMPROVE!) RAILWAY CATTLE-GATE.

Ambl The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JOEL BOWMAN and JOHN B. OVERMYER, of Reading, in the county of Perry, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and improved Railroad Cattle-Gate; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which the invention appertains to fully understand and use it, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a transverse section of our improved cattle-gate, applied to a railroad-track, the plane of section being through the line x x, iig. 2;

Figure 2 represents a top plan view ofthe same. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention hasfor its object to provide a cattlegate across the track of a railroad, to prevent cattle and other stock from entering upon the same from "roads, turnpikes, dto., and which shall be thrown out of the path of a passing train by the weight thereof.

The invention consists, first, in the combination, with the track-and gates, of two parallel bars, arranged upon the outside of the rails, and connected with the gate-shafts by means of levers and chains, in such a manner that the weight of a train of cars upon the bars will depress them, and throw down the gates, said gates being again raised to a vertical position after the passage of the train, by weights, springs, or other suitable mechanism.

The invention consists, secondly, in providing the upper surface of the parallel bars with depressions the width of the carriage-road, to prevent injury to said bars by wagons or carriages passing over them. And the invention consists, lastly, in the construction of the gate, and,v` the general combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more -fully described. y

In the drawings.-

A are the rails, and

B, the ties of a railroad-track.

At the-point where the railroad crosses a turnpike or carriage-road, we arrange, upon both sides of the track, upon the outside of each rail, the bars C, iu'

such a manner as to proJect slightly above the rails,

as shown by dotted lines, fig. 1.

The ends of these bars are bent at right angles, and slotted to receive bolts a, by which said bars are held to the rails, and permitted a slight vertical movement.

D D are transverse shafts, hung in suitable bearings upon the under side of the rails, and upon both sides of the carriage-road.

These shafts are each provided with a series of curved vertical bars, b, as shown, having their proximate edges sharpened.

These shafts are each connected, upon the outside of each rail, with two bent levers, c d, by means of chains c, as shown in fig. 1, the chains being so arranged that the rotation of the shafts in one direction will depress allits levers simultaneously.

The levers are pivoted to the sides of the rail, as shown at 'f;'so that the friction-rollers g, at their outer ends, shall rest under and 'support the bars O'upon` each side of the shafts D.

The operation is as follows: Whena train of cars approaches the gates from either direction upon the track, the wheels strike the ends of the bars C, and depress them, carrying down the outer ends of the levers c d, consequently raising their inner ends, and causing the shafts D to partially rotate, through the medium of the chains e, to throw the hooked bars b into a horizontal position below the upper surface of the rails, out ofthe way of the train.

After the train has passed, the bars bare thrown up into a vertical position, to prevent the passage of catv tle upon the track, by any suitable means.

In this example of our invention, we have arranged, upon each side of the track, near the ends of the gates, uprights F, bearing Weighted levers G.

The ends of these levers are connected, by cords or chains, with pulley H, upon the ends of the shafts D, which are rotated to thrownp the gates by the weight upon the outer ends of the levers.

If preferred, springs may be arranged under' the bars D for this purpose.

In fig. 1, depressions I are shown in the upper surface of the bars D, to bring them in a plane with the top of the rails A, and of suicieut length to admit of easy `passage across the track of wagons and carriages.

If desired, the depressions may be covered with a platform, to protect the bars from injury by heavily-laden wagons.

In order to prevent the bars b from rising while the ears are passing over the depressed portions of the bars O, we provide blocks J, upon the inside of the rails, of a length corresponding-t0 the length of the depressions for the flanges of the car-wheelsltostrike against and depress.

'Ine blocks J are supported upon a cross-bar, K, passing under the rails, 'and secured upon the outside of the same to the bars D, as shown in the rawings.

The vobject of providing the hooked Abars b with knife-edges is to enable them to cut through ice or drifts of snow which may accumulate upon the track in winter.

Having thus described our invention,

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with lche rails of a railroad-track i 4.y In combination with the rails of a railroad-track, and the gates H b, the parallel bars C, pivoted levers the bars C, pivoted levers c d, blocks J, gate H b, pulc d, and the weighted levers G, or their equivalent, leys H, and weighted levers G, all arranged as desubstantially as described, for the purpose specified. scribed, for the purpose specified.

2. The blocks J, in combination with the rails A and JOEL BOWMAN. the bars C, having their upper surfaces depressed near JOHN B. OVERMYER. the centre, substantially as described, for the purpose speciiied` Witnesses 3. The hooked bars b, arranged, as described, upon J AMES WELsoN, the oscillating shafts D, when their' proximate edges J ACOB SECKELE,

are sharpened, for the purpose specied. 

